Resumen de Biphasic hydrogenation of eugenol with ruthenium and rhodium nanoparticles stabilized in ionic liquids

Isis Crespo, Olgioly Dominguez, Pablo Baricelli, Margarita Borusiak, Ofelia Omaña, William Castro, Merlin Rosales

• The purpose of this study was to evaluate on the catalytic activity nanostructured systems of ruthenium and rhodium stabilized in ionic liquids derived from imidazole: IL1= butylmethyllimidazole tetrafluoroborate [BMIM][BF4] and IL2= butylmethylimidazole hexafluorophosphate [BMIM][PF6] in the biphasic hydrogenation of eugenol under mild reaction conditions T= 80°C, P= 100psi during 4 hours. The metallic nanoparticles (NPs-M) were synthesized using the ligand hydrogenation displacement reaction for the ruthenium III tris(acetylacetonate), [Ru(acac)3], and bis-μ-cloro-di(1,5-ciclooctadieno) dirhodium(I), [Rh(COD)Cl]2, showing a mean particle size between (2.0±_0.2) nm and (4.0±0.2) nm. The nanostructured systems Rh/IL2, Ru/IL2 and Ru/IL1 show similar activities and different from the Rh/IL1 system. On the other hand, the systems stabilized in the IL1 were more selective towards the formation of the 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol than the systems stabilized in the IL2. Nevertheless, in general, the catalysts were good for hydrogenating eugenol, resulting in Rh/IL1 nanoparticles less reactive than Rh/IL2, Ru/IL1 and Ru/IL2.